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FAIR

A blog reader this week copied me on a letter of complaint that he sent to Fork in the City after having a disappointing dining experience with a co-worker. It seems the food was lukewarm and both of the burgers they ordered were so scrawny they didn't even fit the bun.

This reply came the very next day from Fork owner David Trinkle: Absolutely like comments like this. It seems we did very well out of the gate for two weeks and then have had a few setbacks mostly due to hiring more staff that weren't perhaps prepared as we opened the decks etc.
We are known for our burgers and in fact have won awards for them from the Roanoker Mag and City Mag- Dan is our manager and will look into it and hopefully correct. The most common complaint has been luke warm food and we are attending to that. The burger itself should have never happened.
Please give us another try- we would like to send you a gift card not just for your experience but for the effort you made contacting us- where should we send it???
thanks and give more feedback next time.

I share this story for the sole purpose of showing that it is almost always a good idea to let a restaurant know if you have had an unpleasant experience. At the best, you will get a response like this and it will positively affect other diners' experiences in the future. At the worst, at least you will have passed along the information and know you've done the right thing.

I'm not advocating that you be a complainer and complain about every little thing that you don't like in a restaurant. But if you are seriously unhappy about something, it certainly doesn't hurt to bring it to light.

NOT FAIR

It seems the Guinness World Record for the most pancakes made in 8 hours has been broken. But it hasn't been broken by some crazed, energetic pancake freak who can hardly flip them as fast as they are cooking. No, it was broken by the "revolutionary new breakfast product, the Batter Blaster." Which is essentially a pressurized can of pancake batter that you can just squirt into the pan. Great for busy mornings at home, yes. But fair in the Guinness World Record pancake-making contest? I'm not so sure. What do y'all think?

As promised, today's Front Burner column contains the best recipes my readers inherited from their mothers. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, click here. Please note: there was a small error in the Cocoa Gravy recipe in the paper. It should say to add one cup of milk, NOT one cup of water.

I wanted to run every single recipe I received, but alas, there are these things called ads that we have to sell in order to be able to afford to print the paper. So we didn't quite have enough room for all of the recipes. But never fear! Here are the delicious recipes you missed in this morning's paper, including Senora Caldwell Keith's Red Velvet Cake, Dottie Woods' mother's "Happy Valley Cake" and Barbara Manning's Chicken Casserole.

But first, I wanted to share Delora Bright's entire essay about her mother, Winnie Johnson. I could only print a couple of paragraphs in the paper, but reading it in its entirety brought tears to my eyes.

Enjoy!

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Allrecipes.com

I've never made a quiche before this weekend, but I have made pies and frittatas, so how hard could it be? Not hard at all, especially with the help of my friend, the little dough boy who makes my pie crust for me.

My mother loves quiche, and since she came over for lunch yesterday on her way home from my sister's house, I chose a recipe for spinach quiche with feta cheese and mushrooms. It was a big hit and was just enough for lunch with a side of fruit salad. Hubby and I ate another slice for dinner last night with a cup of soup.

This recipe calls for sauteeing the onions and garlic, then adding mushrooms and spinach, and finally stirring in the cheeses so they begin to melt into the other ingredients before you spread all of the filling in the pie shell. Then just top with beaten eggs and pop in the oven. I made a few small adaptations, which I will note with the recipe below.

Oh, and I tested my aluminum pie crust shield on this quiche and I'm in love. I will never again have to painstakingly cover the edges of my pie crust with little strips of aluminum foil, then burn my hand taking it off halfway through the cooking process! Find one here or at kitchen stores.

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I don't usually pay much attention to cooking contests, because if I did that's all I would write about - EVER! But a recent e-mail from the folks at Regal Springs Tilapia did catch my eye, perhaps because it deals with tilapia, a very popular fish, and because the challenge is to come up with an economical recipe that can feed a family of four for under $15.

Now, many people do not care for tilapia because they think it's tasteless. It is very mild, but I like the fact that it takes on flavors well, so it is very versatile. It is also pretty affordable as far as fish goes. We eat it about once a week, or at least a couple of times a month. And Regal Springs, at least, claims to have a "sustainable approach" to raising tilapia.

Six finalists in the contest will receive cash prizes and the winner will get $5,000. To enter, go to the company Web site.

A couple of my favorite tilapia dinners: Sauteed in butter and olive oil with creole or blackened seasoning and served with black beans and rice; lightly breaded with panko or bread crumbs, seasoned and fried in a skillet; steamed with spinach and served over chicken ramen noodles, with a dash of soy sauce and hot sauce and a squirt of lime.

What's your favorite way to go fishy?

Laura Tucker, a regular contributor from Salem, sent along these pictures from the Virginia State Championship Chili Cook-off, which took place in downtown Roanoke on Saturday. Most of these pictures are of a chili-eating contest. It looks like some folks really got into their chili -- LITERALLY.

Check out the slide show. Or if you want to see the pictures individually on Flickr, go here.

Mother's Day is Sunday. If you had forgotten that (or never remembered in the first place), drop everything and GET THEE TO A CARD SHOP! There's still time!

A couple of people have been asking where they should take dear Mom for a nice breakfast, brunch or dinner on Mother's Day. I wish I had the time to call every single restaurant and find out what they are doing for the special occasion. A few have sent us e-mails with details about their specials, though, so I will give a quick run-down. Also, you can search under the key words "Mother's Day" on our online calendar for other events. Also, here is a link to some Mother's Day dining advertisements from The Roanoke Times.

* Addition: Le Bistro is having a grand opening event Saturday night featuring Harlan wines and live music. The restaurant is located in the former Nico's Italian restaurant building on Campbell Ave. in downtown Roanoke. Tony Pope, former owner of Tony Pope Bistro & Wine Bar in South Roanoke, is the executive chef at Le Bistro. They will have seatings at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Call 540-206-2611 for reservations.

* This one is pretty cool. Townhouse restaurant in Chilhowie will donate $10 to the Cancer Outreach Foundation for every mother that dines there between now and Saturday. While there, you can treat Mom to a three-course meal for $35 prepared by two of the best chefs in Southwest Virginia. You can also just order from the regular menu.

* As always, The Regency Room at Hotel Roanoke and Preston's at the Inn at Virginia Tech are doing big brunches for Mother's Day. If the Regency Room is full and you've got your heart set on a meal of that style, consider making the short drive to Blacksburg for Preston's. Call in advance.

Hotel Roanoke will have bacon-wrapped trout, apple-almond chicken breasts, roasted pork loin, walnut/raisin French toast and more. Preston's is featuring such specials as an omelet station, a carving station with beef and turkey, salads and several entree choices.

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Silver Lining Farm asparagus - huge but tender

Today's Front Burner column was all about Silver Lining Farm, a pick-your-own asparagus farm in Craig County. If you haven't seen the column yet, you can read it here.

Nan Gray and Eric Day, both scientists, spend hours and hours laboring over their asparagus patch. The combination of their scientific knowledge and their dedication to perfection are probably the secret to their asparagus, which I can say without a doubt is the best asparagus I have ever eaten.

Of course, it could be that's just because I've never picked asparagus from a field and eaten it for dinner that very night. My experience has always been with bunches of asparagus in the grocery store that came from Peru or Costa Rica. But even those are superior to canned asparagus.

I put a lovely curried asparagus recipe in the paper with my column today, but I'd like to share two other recipes, as well. One is a chicken-asparagus casserole recipe that I found and made on Sunday. It was so good I had to practically drag my husband away from it so we'd have leftovers! The other is a great recipe for potlucks or cookouts because the asparagus can be eaten hot, cold or lukewarm-- and with your fingers!

If you have a favorite asparagus recipe, I would love to hear it.

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The Roanoke Valley Harley Owners Group is used to winning the People’s Choice award at Greenvale School’s annual Virginia State Championship Chili Cookoff.

This year, the 30th year for the event, they did one better: They won first place, $1,000, a trophy and a chance to advance to the World’s Championship Chili Cookoff in Nevada in the fall.

T’Bonz Chili/Terry Van Lehn came in second in the red chili category, and Cowgirl Chili/Jackie Koltz won third. The fourth place win went to Spence Robertson's Po' Joe's Chili, and fifth went to Royal Flush Chili by Julie Snowdy.

In the chili verde category, the winners were: first place, Carolina Dreamin’ Chili/Rick Gardner; second place, Po’ Joe’s Chili/Spence Robertson; third place, Mel’s Diner Green Chili/Mel Fletcher.

The salsa category brought the following winners: first place, Smoldering Mess Chili/Ghon Eckley; second place, Thai Won Awn Chili/Charlie Whitescarver; third place, Curtis and Jean Schneider’s Schneider’s Star City Chili.

The Best Booth, Best Beef Chili and People’s Choice awards all went to the HOG chili. But there was a second place People's Choice winner, and that was Tom McArtor's Red Hot Chili Pepper. Best showmanship was a tie between the Harley group and the Q99 Breakfast Club Chili with Dick Daniels and David Page.

Texas Roadhouse in Christiansburg took home the award for best restaurant chili.

Did you attend the cookoff this year? If so, did you actually get to taste many of the chilis? What were your thoughts?

Someone did not finish the job.

Since the bizarre food habits story ran on Wednesday, I've received a few e-mails and letters from readers who now feel "normal," or at least willing to embrace their abnormality.

Here are some examples of the other strange eating habits I've heard:

Reader Tom: Strange?  I'm in my sixties and I always thought things mentioned in your article were normal.  Don't you scrape the chocolate off a Heath bar with the front teeth, let the chocolate melt in your mouth then  eat the crunchy  center? Since I  was a kid and ate raw carrots, I thought everyone knew you gently bit into it, not disturbing the long rod-like core.  Then you eat the center tender core as the final disappearing act for that carrot.  And a plate of food don't you eat one item then go on to the next, until you finish and become a member of the clean plate club?

Another reader reports that when she was a child and her mother made waffles for breakfast, she had to fill every tiny square with syrup. Then, she had to cut the bites along the designated lines for uniform pieces. I admit, I still like to make sure that every waffle square is full of syrup.

And finally, here is a pretty cool memory from reader Tom Stone of Roanoke:

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